Severus & The Death Eaters

Dark Jazz: a manifestoFirst, let me make myself clear; this is not muggle music. If you are looking for feel good songs about the Boy Wonder I advise you to look elsewhere. But if you are curious what those who practice the Dark Arts listen to on a rainy Sunday afternoon this might help.I discovered Dark Jazz rather by accident.He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named was talking to me one day of his love of listening to nothing but white noise on the radio (I always called it static) and he wished how there was someway to harness that noise, playing the endless crackles like an instrument. Static is pure chaos, after all, and chaos is something he is skilled at creating.Later I was coming back from number twelve, Grimmauld Place, when I stopped in a small cafe for some sparkling water and a twist of lemon. It was summer and the air-conditioning was on. Across the street was one of those dreadful muggle parking lots and a construction crew were using a gasoline powered generator and a jackhammer to drill into the cement.As I listened to the tedious noise of the air-conditioner I became aware that the continual pounding of the jackhammer had rhythm to it. Furthermore, the parking lot echoed back the noise of the machines and it almost sounded like some power was orchestrating the sounds into a jazz riff. I thought that if I could accompany with my saxophone those wonderful echoing, moaning, distorted groans coming from the parking lot I would have a new sound on my hands; thus Dark Jazz was born.So far He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named seems somewhat pleased with my attempts in experimentation and once he even sat in on my jam sessions (The Dark Lord plays a mean up-right piano). Better yet, as I was wandering the halls of Slytherin House on my return, wondering who I could scowl at to make me feel better, I suddenly became aware of the acoustics of the place! Mind blowing! After all, I live in a dungeon and everything is made out of stone. I broke out my sax and the sound was perfect. Nothing but endless echo. Dark Jazz is all about echo and magic. Like the legendary half-blood John Coltrane (his mother was a Witch) once put it, “All musicians can do is to get closer to the sources of magic and so feel that they will be in communion with the magical laws.” Amen, brother.